_John Iain Ciar MACLEOD _
_William Cleireach MACLEOD _|_? O'NEIL _______________
_John Iain_Borb MACLEOD _|
| | _John MACLEAN ___________
| |_ MACLEAN __________________|_________________________
_Norman MACLEOD _________|
| | _Earl_of DOUGLAS ________
| | _ DOUGLAS __________________|_________________________
| |_Margaret DOUGLAS _______|
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|--Alexander MACLEOD
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|_[daughter_of] CHISHOLM _|
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!SOURCE: Rev. Dr. Donald MacKinnon and Alick Morrison, THE MACLEODS -- THE GENEALOGY OF A CLAN, Section III, "MacLeod Cadet Families", Edinburgh, The Clan MacLeod Society, 1979, p. 199. The romantic island of St. Kilda is really a cluster of islands and rocks jutting precipitously out of the Atlantic Ocean, some 60 miles west of Harris. They include Hiort (St. Kilda), Boreray, Soay, Stac Lee and Stac an Armuin, which have fascinated historians, travellers and ornithologists down to the present day. They provide a favourite haunt for innumberable sea birds -- solangeese, fulmars, puffins and razorbills. Along their steep slopes roamed the diminutive agile St. Kilda sheep, whose horns have been of considerable interest to Scottish historians for centuries. Above all, St. Kilda was the home of a most remarkable people, who derived a considerable amount of their livelihood from the slaughter of birds, which frequented the ledges of the precipitous cliffs in the area. This was an operation, which demanded considerable skill, courage and strength -- involving a sheer drop down the face of the cliffs for a considerable distance by means of ropes, to the clefts and ledges, and underneath yawned the blue depth of the Atlantic Ocean. Old Angus MacQueen spent most of his life in this hazardous enterprise. During a visit to the island of Berneray at the beginning of this century he was heard to say, "If five birds came at me on the ledge, I could safely guarantee that only one of them would escape my clutches". The island of St. Kilda was closely associated with Pabbay from the 17th century. This association was due to a remarkable Macleod family, the Clann Alasdair Ruaidh. The leading members of this family possessed the tack of Kirktown (Baile na Cille) in Pabbay, where they resided: they were also the Stewards of St. Kilda. This family descended from William Cleireach (the Clerk), 5th Chief of the Clan MacLeod of Harris and Dunvegan. The name suggests that he was connected with the church and the MS. Genealogical History of the MacLeods (dated c. 1768) states that "being the second son, he was bred to the church". He eventually became Chief and proved himself one of the great warrior chiefs of the clan. He married a daughter of MacLean of Duart in Mull, with issue: John (Iain Borb)Š, Norman, [who], like his father and brother, was a renowned warrior. He was born about 1402 and became the progenitor of the MacLeods of Grule, Borline, St. Kilda, Bay and BalmoreŠ, and George, from whom descended several MacLeod families in Lorraine in FranceŠ.
!SOURCE: Isabella Dewey Seavey, IsabelCV@@aol.com, 345 Lyndon Road, Fairport, NY 14450 (716) 223-3791